The AFIRE Podcast

(Featuring Gleb Nechayev, Head of Research, Chief Economist, Berkshire Residential Investments)

Do people follow jobs, or is it the other way around? The answer depends on where we are in a business cycle.

https://www.afire.org/podcast/migrationpatterns

During recessions, people tend to move towards markets where employment prospects are better, and as recoveries take hold, businesses usually expand into areas where people want to live. As the COVID-19 virus spreads around the world, it introduces a whole new dimension to the question: do people follow jobs, or do jobs follow people? Today, the answer is as much about public health as it is about the interplay of economics and demographics.

Gleb Nechayev, Head of Research and Chief Economist of Berkshire Residential Investments, looks at how migration during COVID-19 affects economic growth and real estate fundamentals across markets and within.

(Featuring John D'Angelo, Managing Director, Deliotte Consulting)

With automation, machine learning, and other "smart" tech disrupting the employment market, COVID-19 isn't the only threat to skills development for rising talent. For growing the next generation of leadership, what needs to change?

https://www.afire.org/podcast/digitalevolution/

With current work-from-home regulations in place as a result of COVID-19, it's critical for investors to reevaluate their "Digital DNA” in order to strengthen their teams and evolve their leadership strategies.

Just because we've done training, recruitment, team building, and leadership a certain way in the past—is that how we should do it into the future? In this episode of the AFIRE Podcast, John D'Angelo, Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting, talks about how real estate approaches technology, training, and innovation as a means to develop and support future leaders in our industry.

(Featuring G. Evan Bennett, Founder, Managing Member, Anthology Capital)

The demographic data for baby boomers has long been a routine talking point for medical science and technology, and the surprise of Generation X, where’s the sector headed next?

www.afire.org/podcast/medicalofficebabyboomcast/

The convergence of demographics, constant advancements in medical science, and the distinct social attitudes of baby boomers has been forecasted to drive medical office demand for several years. Predictions and analyses for Generation X, with its lower birth rates and differing attitudes, introduces some key questions to the outlook for the overall sector, but a closer look at the data suggests that impacts of the generational transition are not as ominous as some may think.

In this episode, G. Evan Bennett, Founder and Managing Member of Anthology Capital, looks at how constant changes in demographics over the next few decades will affect the future of medical office investments.

(Featuring Anthony Cazazian, Managing Director, Head of US Residential Real Estate, Man Global Private Markets)

The demographic transition from baby boomers to millennials spells increased demand for single-family rentals in the coming decades. According to Man GPM, supply needs to keep up.

https://www.afire.org/podcast/newgenerationsfr/

“OK, boomer.”

The somewhat condescending term applied by Millennials to those born in the decades after World War II has morphed into a meme that encapsulates the gulf in priorities between these two very different generations.

“OK, boomer” takes on a slightly different meaning when used in the context of the single-family rental (SFR) market, though. US population growth and demographics trends could indicate increasing SFR demand over the coming decades, and supply may well fail to keep up. Indeed, when it comes to SFR, a new, different boomer generation—millennials who are just now entering the key home-building phase of their lives—is good news for the sector.

In this episode, Anthony Cazazian, Managing Director and Head of US Residential Real Estate for Man Global Private Markets (Man GPM), talks about the future of residential markets and changing demographics.

(Featuring P. Allen Smith, landscape designer, conservationist, author, and television host)

Landscape designer, conservationist, author, and television host P. Allen Smith discusses the shift towards walkability, density, and community accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis.

https://www.afire.org/podcast/lookingforcommunity/

With more drastic climate change effects on the near horizon, and COVID-19 still in the room, it will be critical for investors to track policies and regulations alongside changing social attitudes. As the pandemic continues, healthy buildings aren’t just engineering novelties and shiny facades for trade magazines—they’re the new baseline for ensuring safe experiences in the built environment at all scales, including an increasingly popular trend in sustainable, walkable, and community-focused exurban developments.

In this podcast, P. Allen Smith, prolific designer, author, and host of the P. Allen Smith's Garden Home and P. Allen Smith's Garden to Table series on American Public Television (and keynote speaker at this year's AFIRE Winter Conference in New York) discusses the need for a shift in thinking about value in real estate. What's the real difference between real estate that takes a myopic view of maximizing value per square foot, with little regard for context, and more thoughtful and integrated approaches to urban design, development, and value creation?

(Featuring Melinda McLaughlin, Vice President of Research for Prologis)

COVID-19 and logistics: What have we learned so far, and what will be the lasting impact on the sector as it faces a new stay-at-home economy?

https://www.afire.org/podcast/prologissupplydemand

COVID-19 has put an end to the lengthy global economic expansion. Estimates of the magnitude and duration of the negative impact of the pandemic span a broad range.

On the demand side, economic activity has been suppressed as consumers are constrained by restrictions, fear, and/or job loss. On the supply side, disruption in the production and movement of goods (and people) around the world has tested complex supply chains. Logistics real estate users have had to handle both a shortage of goods and a subsequent replenishment surge. Demand for space will continue to evolve as consumer behaviors and supply chains shift.

To build an understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on logistics real estate, AFIRE recently sat down with Melinda McLaughlin, Vice President of Research for Prologis, to talk about the stay-at-home economy, the Recovery, and the new normal.

(Featuring Martha Peyton, PhD, CRE, Managing Director of Real Assets Applied Research, Aegon Asset Management Real Assets)

Understanding new changes in tenant demand, economics, and public health will be critical to the future of commercial real estate investing.

https://www.afire.org/podcast/rightsizingcre/

All real estate investors are focused on the potential paths for the global economy and commercial real estate (CRE) over the quarters ahead. Some are focusing on stressed tenants, shrinking rent collections, uncertain property values, and surviving through the distress. Others are examining their dry powder and trolling for investment opportunities.

For both types of investors, weighing the potential paths forward requires addressing three challenges: (1) the coronavirus, (2) the economy, and (3) tenant demand.

In this episode, Martha Peyton, PhD, CRE, Managing Director of Real Assets Applied Research for Aegon Asset Management Real Assets discusses the future of commercial real estate investing.

(Featuring John Kennedy, Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Asset Management – US, Barings Real Estate, and Rob Little, Head of Real Estate Debt Underwriting and Servicing, Barings Real Estate)

The asset management function is always integral to long-term value creation in real estate, but the COVID-19 crisis has served as a fresh reminder of just how crucial this role is for navigating challenging conditions.

https://www.afire.org/podcast/assetmanagementcrisis/

The spread of COVID-19 across the globe and the rippling effects across all geographies have left no segment of the economy untouched. Real estate markets are no exception. From deserted office buildings to shuttered storefronts and empty hotels, the impact has been more severe than many investors’ downside scenario analyses would have predicted. Yet, global real estate markets still offer potentially attractive returns over the long term—across a wide variety of sectors and risk types—if investors can effectively navigate the current storm. Critical to this effort are the asset managers themselves—also known as the “eyes on the asset.”

In this episode, John Kennedy and Rob Little of Barings Real Estate talk about lessons learned and emerging best practices for the post-COVID future of asset management in real estate.

(Featuring Jayanth Ganesan, Real Estate Research Analyst, Nuveen)

The economic impact of COVID-19 will not be felt equally across the US. Which metros are well-positioned for life after coronavirus (and why)?

https://www.afire.org/podcast/resilientcities/

With social and leisure events canceled, many stores and offices closed, and malls and airports well below capacity, the coronavirus pandemic may seem like a unique economic challenge that will fundamentally change how metro-level economies function.

However, new analyses from Nuveen Real Estate suggest that cities with high exposure to non-cyclical industries based in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and strong demographic trends, will see a much less severe economic impact from the coronavirus pandemic than cities with high exposure to cyclical, overvalued, or undercapitalized industries, and weak macro drivers.

So after COVID-19, which metros will fare best? Nuveen Real Estate research analyst Jayanth Ganesan has some ideas.

(Featuring Gunnar Branson, CEO, AFIRE)

Around the world, 2020 has been rife with public health anxieties, civil unrest, and economic uncertainty—nothing new for real estate, but what does it mean for the future?

https://www.afire.org/podcast/realestatereckoning/

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic inequity and injustice are now in high relief and can no longer be ignored or put aside, especially as those less fortunate endure the worst impacts of this crisis. The Black Lives Matter protests in the US, provoked in part by yet another incident of police brutality, have been a wake-up call characterized by strong language, painful stories, and uncomfortable truths.

What responsibility do institutional investors in real estate have to cities, communities, and stakeholders during a time of global cultural change?

This podcast is based on the article "A Real Estate Reckoning" from Summit Journal (Summer 2020).